Are News Organizations Departing Twitter?

Twitter is a few tweets less after NPR and PBS have decided to stop posting on their accounts. This comes as a result of Twitter labeling the networks’ profiles “state-affiliated media,” which is also used to label media in countries like China and Russia. NPR has cited this reason for leaving the platform as well as to protect the organization’s credibility.

While Twitter remains an important platform for journalists as Scott covered recently, NPR’s departure marked the first major news organization to leave the app behind with PBS following and The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) pausing use, too.

The first to receive a new label was the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), which was originally labeled “government funded media,” but has since been changed to “publicly funded media.” The corporation continues to tweet today.

Other than a thread covering the ways users can interact with NPR content elsewhere, including the “Up First” newsletter, the news organization has not tweeted new stories since April 4.

With more Arizonans using Twitter for news consumption according to the 2023 State of the Media report from the Arizona Broadcasters Association, this could impact how many people, especially younger audiences, receive their news.

Since Musk’s takeover of the platform and backlash from employees and advertisers that Abbie covered back in December, Twitter has undergone quite a transformation with new blue check policies, a different timeline design, a paid subscription service and more. These labels on news organizations like NPR and PBS are now a part of it.

These notable departures from Twitter prompt the questions, will the labels stay, and will other news organizations follow suit and leave the platform? If so, you are sure to read about it when it happens on our blog.